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Greetings fellow Ulyssians. I would like to share with you some of my experiences when in England last year.
For some time I had been thinking about travelling to England to visit the town that my great grandfather left behind when he came to Australia in the 1850s.
He settled at Bendigo in Victoria, as did many other new arrivals as that was the era of the gold rush.
When the opportunity to travel presented in July of this year, I grabbed it.
After spending a few days in that town in Wiltshire, I drove the rental car up to Nottingham to meet up with some Ulysses Club Great Britain (UCGB) members who I had been in communication with when I was the International Liaison on NatCom from 2010 to 2014. Pete and Ilze Bull welcomed me and introduced me to their neighbours, Barry and Brenda Boggild. I had already met Stephanie and Graham (Steve and Gray) when they were in Australia a couple of years ago enjoying an RV holiday.
In those few days in the Nottingham area our UCGB hosts took me sightseeing. ‘Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem’ pub claims to have been around since 1189, it serves a nice cold beer. Up the street from the pub is the completely expected statue of Robin Hood. A photo opportunity!

Now cough. Of course, Perry upheld the finest traditions of growing old disgracefully, depicting Robin Hood’s medical examination for military service.

Another funny thing is that the community of Melbourne is just about 23km from the Nottingham CBD.

Umm – did I take a wrong turn somewhere??After a few days in the Nottingham area I bid farewell to our UCGB friends and after being awarded some Club merchandise, I set off for London on the M1 Motorway in the rental car.
It wasn’t long before I was involved in a motor accident. After being taken by ambulance to the Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham I was transferred to a ward for check-ups and observation. It is pleasing to report that all the tests came back negative. However, in my moment of need our UCGB friends were magnificent; the three afore mentioned couples came to visit and after my discharge at the end of day three in hospital, Pete picked me up from hospital and on the following day he drove me to meet up with Martin Lockley, the national president of UCGB. Martin was able to take me to the accommodation I had booked near London Heathrow Airport as I was flying early next morning.
Fair dinkum, I don’t know how I would have coped without our UCGB friends. In my time of need they really looked after me. I would like to recommend that, if you are travelling to GB, see if you can time your trip so you could be part of one of their activities. For instance, the 2018 UCGB AGM Event will be held at Harrogate North Yorkshire in July. If you would like to see their newsletter with the information, go to the ‘Home’ page of the national website and click on ‘Ulysses Club Great Britain – latest newsletter’.

Thanks again to our UCGB friends…

Perry Stephens #26184 DM #38

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